


19:06

by favefangirl



Series: Sterek one-shots [12]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, College Years, Fluff, Growing Up, If You Squint - Freeform, Love Confessions, M/M, Maturing, Meeting Again, Personal Growth, Scott McCall is a Good Friend, Stiles has no willpower, mostly angst, so is Lydia Martin, sort of fluffy ending, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 18:32:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10622670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/favefangirl/pseuds/favefangirl
Summary: Derek left them, he left for God knows where to do who knows what. He left then erased himself from their lives. But now he's back, and Stiles has moved on, okay, he doesn't need Derek in his life anymore. Except. Except that he has never been able to resist when faced with those eyes.





	

"Derek's back," Lydia said nervously, biting her lip.

Stiles already knew, he'd been doing his best to avoid answering any of the _many_ calls and texts Derek was sending him. So far he was doing a pretty alright job of it, too. He'd let the calls go to voicemail every time, deleted the messages Derek left without listening to them, and not even bothered checking the texts. He'd not spoken to Derek once while he had been back, and he intended to keep it that way.

"Right," he replied, pretending to read his notes, hoping Lydia would just drop the subject..

She didn't. "Are you... okay? With him being back, I mean?" Lydia asked placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Stiles shrugged non-committedly not daring to meet her eye. "I guess," he shrugged again, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, it's always been complicated between you two," Lydia explained. Her voice sounded unsure, like she was scared of saying the wrong thing and unsettling him.

Stiles finally looked up and said, "I was just a kid with a crush, it's alright, I'm over it."

Lydia didn't look like she believed him, but she didn't press the issue. Stiles silently thanked her for it. He didn't want to tell her the truth, because he didn't want the truth to be true. He was being honest when he'd said he was a kid with a crush - initially he was. Sixteen, hyperactive with a buzz cut and clothes that didn't fit quite right. Then there was Derek: twenty, calm, attractive, smart, funny. Of course Stiles had a crush on him.

Until it wasn't a crush anymore. It wasn't like anything Stiles had felt about Lydia, it was more ferocious, more undeniable, more consuming. Stiles was pretty good at hiding it, except from Scott who knew him better than Stiles even knew himself. That was when Stiles had to admit out loud that the silly little crush had become real feelings, deep feelings, _love_ feelings.

Stiles was seventeen, he wasn't about to call it love, but in hindsight it probably was. No, it definitely was. They faced a lot of supernatural shit together, and not everyone made it, everything was just too much. But once those who were left went to college, Stiles had some time to look back and he realised just what he felt. But by then it was far too late. Derek was gone - Mexico, everyone said, but nobody knew for sure - and Stiles didn't intend to return to Beacon Hills after college anyway. It was just not meant to be.

Only now Stiles was back on summer vacation, and apparently Derek was back, too. Stiles refused to let himself fall back into old feelings. He was twenty now, he'd calmed down after everything he'd been through, his hair was longer and his clothes fit him better. He had grown, physically and mentally. Perhaps it was the many battles he had fought, or something left from the Nogitsune, it didn't matter. He wasn't going to be that guy anymore.

-

-

The next day, Scott came over (he had just gotten back from college) looking apologetic as he walked through the door. "Don't worry," Stiles said before Scott could speak, "I already know he's back and I'm totally cool with it."

Scott kept looking at him, almost like he could see _through_ him, which he probably could. Stiles was lying, and Scott with his werewolf senses would know that, but he didn't pick up on it. He simply suggested they shoot some zombies and order a pizza, just like old times. Stiles grinned at him - he wasn't up for talking, and they hadn't spent any bro time together in too long.

-

-

Stiles managed to avoid Derek for nearly a week the way he was until, at seven pm on a particularly dull Saturday night, he received a text message. He checked his phone straight away, thinking that it was his Dad telling him he was working late, or Scott wanting to talk. When he saw Derek's name he went to ignore it, but when he read the message (accidently, of course), he froze completely on the spot.

**Derek > Emergency. Boys Locker Room. Now. < 19:06**

Stiles had grabbed Roscoe's keys, pulled on some shoes and an old jacket, and sprinted out of the door before he paused to wonder what the hell he was doing.

-

-

It felt strange to be walking through the halls of Beacon Hills High School after so long, and bad memories seemed embedded in the walls. He told himself to breathe, to keep walking. He barely had to think about where to go, the building was so familiar to him, he knew exactly where he was headed. He even, quite without meaning to, took one of the shortcuts he and Scott had discovered over the years. He tried not to think about why the main doors were open, as he walked through the corridors.

Too soon he came to the door to the boys locker room. This had been a room full of celebration, commiseration, a battlefield once or twice. Touching the cool metal door - one so familiar yet somehow alien to him now, at the same time - was a strange thing. But the text said emergency, so he didn't take a moment to think, instead he pushed the door open and walked inside.

Some lights were on inside, but it was still quite dim and the room was bathed in an orange glow. Stiles could hear nothing and that made him worry. What sort of emergency could be so silent? Stiles took tentative steps into the room, keeping his wits about him for fear something may jump out at him. He looked around, but only found one thing. Derek, sat on a bench in the middle of the room, looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

He looked so different, his hair and beard were longer, his eyes looked tired, he was more tanned than Stiles remembered, but it was Derek. His eyes were as familiar to Stiles as his own, and looking into them, Stiles could see Derek. _Really_ see Derek. It had been so very, very long and Stiles was so very, very tired, but he could finally _see_ Derek - it felt like the first time all over again.

"Why did you call me here Derek?" Stiles asked, remembering himself. "You said it was an emergency, but I don't see one."

Derek stared at him a moment before relying, "You were avoiding me, ignoring my calls, locking your window."

Stiles had locked his window after the first call, remembering all the times he'd come home to find Derek sat in his bedroom, or stood creepily in a corner. Stiles was only a man, and the sight of Derek in his room would've crushed all his willpower, and he would have fallen right back into the same crush as before, those same feelings as before. He wouldn't allow himself to do that.

"Yeah I know, that's what you do when you have to move on." Stiles said talking both about moving on from the life of Supernatural creatures of darkness, and from his feelings for Derek.

"Maybe I don't want you to move on."

As soon as the words left Derek's mouth, Stiles told himself under no circumstance was he to fall into this trap. There was no way he was going to let himself be _that_ guy. He'd spent too long trying to put the broken pieces of himself back together, the parts that didn't quite fit after spent the better part of his teenage years battling villains beyond his wildest imagination, the fragmented bits of his whole being. Too long to go back to how he was before.

"Stiles, I swear I had no idea you had feelings for me, if I did... I never would've left." Derek continued when Stiles remained silent.

Stiles flinched at this. He remembered the phone call, if only blurrily. One too many shots of tequila in a bar near campus, an over zealous friend, and a bitter rage still burning inside Stiles' stomach had led him to call Derek. Of course, Derek hadn't answered. Derek hadn't answered any of their calls when he left, but Stiles left a message confessing his feelings, being completely honest for the first time. He didn't hear back, so he assumed Derek changed his number, or hadn't listened to it. Apparently he had.

"Derek...what are you trying to say?" Stiles asked. He'd meant for it to come out strong and harsh, but it only sounded pathetic and weak.

"I thought I was doing you all a favour, leaving town, one less burden for you all to put up with." Derek explained, looking at his hands. He took a deep breath before continuing, "I was-am in love with you, but I thought I didn't stand a chance."

Stiles took a sharp inhale of breath, shocked at the words. He'd always seen Derek as this unobtainable guy, he was hot and mature and perfect, even if slightly brooding and potentially evil. Stiles' sixteen year old heart didn't stand a chance, and Stiles figured the rest of him didn't either. Hearing that Derek felt the same, that he too was _looking_ but trapped by the thought he was unable to _touch_ or _do_ anything about how he felt, it made that old spark Stiles always felt around Derek flare up inside of him.

"Derek..." Stiles whispered, just because Derek was there and just because he hadn't said it in so long. He didn't know what else to say.

"God, I feel like such an idiot, I never should've left." Derek sighed, bitterness creeping into his tone.

"No, you shouldn't have." Stiles agreed, running a hand through his hair.

"Do you- I know it's a long shot, but do you still feel the same about me?" Derek asked tentatively, looking back up to meet Stiles' eye for the first time in so very, very long.

Stiles stared back at him. He was tempted to lie, to lie and leave and never look back. But he knew Derek would hear his heartbeat, and he wasn't a man who understood being told no. He'd keep on trying to get Stiles to talk to him until he finally got what he wanted, so Stiles was done for anyway. He might as well get it over with in the boys changing room on a Saturday night, than in an ambush in the middle of the street on a miserable Monday morning.

"I didn't," Stiles began, pausing for a breath. "And then I walked through those doors and saw you and now I don't know how I feel." Stiles shook his head, "No, that's a lie and we both know it. I hoped I'd never have to see you again until I walked in and saw you and all those memories and feelings just came right back."

Derek stared at him, a small smile tugging at his lips, like he knew he wasn't allowed to but wanted to anyway. "Then can I, if you'll let me, try and prove to you how sorry I am I left?" Derek asked, nervously.

"Derek-"

"I know it's going to take time," Derek interrupted. "I know that we have to learn to trust each other again, but for you, Stiles, I have nothing but time."

Stiles stared at him, at the man who had occupied his sixteen year old 2 am fantasies, whose technicolour eyes had plagued his dreams. He was still so beautiful, and Stiles was still unable to resist him, his unexpected magnetism. Stiles should hate him, he left them - him - to try and manage on their own. He thought they were strong enough, and maybe they were, but that doesn't mean they didn't still need him. Stiles needed him. Stiles stared at him and he was angry and confused and in love, so he said the only word - the one and only single word - which he could say to the man in front of him.

He said, "Okay,"

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on an Instagram post by @SextingSterek which was like an au/edit thing? Anyway, I used that dialogue:  
> Why did you call me here Derek? You said it was an emergency, but I don't see one. -Stiles  
> You were avoiding me, ignoring my calls, locking your window. -Derek  
> Yeah I know, that's what you do when you have to move on. -Stiles  
> Maybe I don't want you to move on. Stiles, I swear I had no idea you had feelings for me, if I did... I never would've left. -Derek  
> Derek...what are you trying to say? -Stiles  
> I thought I was doing you all a favour, leaving town, one less burden for you all to put up with. I was-am in love with you, but I thought I didn't stand a chance. -Derek  
> Derek... -Stiles  
> God, I feel like such an idiot, I never should've left. -Derek  
> No, you shouldn't have. -Stiles  
> So, this is kind of what I imagined when I saw it? IDK. She hasn't been active in so long, but if you're bored you should check out her IG account because her aus give me life. She sometimes does Supernatural stuff, as well. And Stiles Winchester is one of her favourites.  
> Anyways, hope you enjoyed this, leave a comment or Kudos if you're feeling lovely and have a wonderful existence!


End file.
